Tonight, I drove over to the OTHER fencing club and joined for the year. No, I'm not quitting the first club.

The first club is for lessons and learning and preparing for competitions.

The second club is for hanging out with friends, goofing off a little, and relaxing while having fun, getting some exercise, and possibly learning a thing or two.

I fenced two bouts of EPEE left-handed with friends. Obviously, I'm not going to be fencing in the finals, but I didn't fall on my face or do anything stupid. I note, however, that I have almost no point control. I also have one of the same bad habits as I have in sabre: a desire to parry and step forward versus step back while parrying and then riposte forward.

I'm simply far, far too aggressive. Make that stupidly aggressive.

But it was fun and it didn't aggravate my tendonitis. I also got to talk to some people I haven't seen in a few months.

Since I tend to be a bit of a hermit and one of my original motivations in fencing was to force myself to get out and meet new people, it's kind of nice to have a place to go where I'm fencing but also just hanging out.

Yes, I really and truly am one of those demented people who consider it socializing to hit people with metal sticks.

I find it somewhat amusing that some people didn't recognize me due to the absence of about 8 inches of hair.